"A militaristic bodice extends into the swooping velvet drapes of a 7.5-metre-high gown. It's not just a dress; it's a moving piece of art, an engineering feat, says the Australian-Taiwanese designer Samuel Lewis, who dreamed up its design, and created it in collaboration with the LA-based costume designer Athena Lawton. The extent of the costume only becomes apparent when Gaga's skirt opens to reveal a metal cage underneath, with dancers writhing and reaching behind its steel bars."
"Gaga's five-star, full-blooded return to OTT camp, the Mayhem Ball tour, isn't the first time that she and the 26-year-old designer have worked together. Aside from designing all the looks in the tour's first act, Lewis dressed her for the 2025 Grammys, and for the music videos for Disease (a grey illusion gown made of hand-dyed silk, for a sense of decomposition) and Abracadabra (a red-boned silk dress that plays to Lewis's love of corsetry)."
"Since graduating from Florence's Polimoda in 2024, Lewis has quickly become known among celebrity circles for bringing together meticulous engineering and a kind of chaotic, grungy romanticism; a mix that makes his work feel kinetic and disciplined. He throws himself into complicated construction Russian-doll dresses within dresses, impeccably boned corsets, pieces that move, fit together and transform into other things. These pieces have to work, to bear weight and withstand exertion on a stage."
Lady Gaga performs wearing a monumental red gown that functions as a stage, featuring a militaristic bodice and 7.5-metre swathes of velvet that open to reveal a metal cage with dancers behind steel bars. Samuel Lewis designed the gown in collaboration with LA-based costume designer Athena Lawton. Lewis also created looks for the Mayhem Ball tour, the 2025 Grammys, and the music videos Disease and Abracadabra, employing illusion silk, red-boned silk, and corsetry. Since graduating from Polimoda in 2024, Lewis has become known for meticulous engineering, grungy romanticism, multilayered constructions, and performance-ready pieces that bear weight and withstand exertion.
Read at www.theguardian.com
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